AAS Lesson 1 - repeating back phonogram sounds struggle

[luuknam]

Do kids typically struggle repeating back the phonogram sounds? So, if I say the 4 sounds of 'o', and then have the kid repeat them back to me right away, would you expect the kid to be able to repeat them back? I'm not talking about remembering 5 minutes later or w/e, I'm talking about having to remember them for just the couple of seconds you need to say them.

 

My 8.5yo can say each sound if I do one sound at a time, and usually if I do them in pairs of two, but when I do all four then he turns the 3rd sound into 'yoo' or 'yuh' or the 4th sound into 'yuh' (the 3rd one is 'oo' as in 'to', and the 4th one is, well, the first sound in 'oven'). I told him none of the sounds of 'o' start with /y/, but he's still doing it.

[HomeAgain]

Kids can struggle with more than 3 things to remember.  When we did AAS1, we used the same memorization technique as the "Johnny went camping and brought.." game.  So we'd start with one sound, and then the second pass do the first sound again and add the second, got that down and added the third..it went much quicker that way.  For review, I also made up battleship sheets where to sink the ship you had to name the sounds for each letter.

[luuknam]

Thanks. I just wonder at what age working memory becomes more like adult working memory. There's the "7 plus or minus 2" thing, which I know has its criticisms, and Wikipedia says that adults can typically do 7 random digits, 6 random letters, or 5 random words. I just tried random letters and random digits with my son (me saying them out loud to him, him repeating them back to me), and he could do 5 random letters or 5 random digits, so one'd think that doing 4 sounds would be within the realm of doable. I guess he's overthinking the sounds or something, instead of just repeating them back? Not that he's taking a long time to repeat them back. Or it may be part of the auditory processing issues he may or may not have.

[EKS]

I would just prompt him until he no longer needs it. 

[luuknam]

I would just prompt him until he no longer needs it. 

 

I'm not entirely sure what you mean.

[pitterpatter]

Every child is different and has different strengths and weaknesses, but yes, my DD could repeat the sounds back with little-to-no difficulty at that age.

 

Is he perhaps just repeating the sounds too fast and they get slurred? Can you model the speed you want him to repeat them at? Maybe those sounds are just a tongue-twister for him? Does he have problems with other sounds?

[EKS]

I'm not entirely sure what you mean.

 

If he needs you to tell him each sound separately before he says it, do that.  If he can do two at once, do that.  Eventually, he will remember all of them and will no longer need prompting.

[EKT]

Do you use the free phonogram app? Both my daughters memorized the phonograms pretty easily, but o, u, and y were definitely the most difficult (because there were so many sounds for each). What we did: I would go through the phonogram card stack daily. The easy ones (k, t) were memorized quickly, so we slipped those to the "memorized" section of our card box. This left only the tricky ones and we worked on 2-4 tricky ones each day until they were all memorized. (It took several days to a couple of weeks to get them all down pat.) Our specific process was this: I would hold up the card and they would say the sounds. Then, they would hit the corresponding letter button on the phonogram app to hear the professional voice say the sounds and check if they were right. (I found this process was way better than my voice directing or correcting them; I think it helped them feel less nagged or negative about forgetting. The professional voice on the app is utterly neutral.) So, my job was to hold up the cards, their job was to say the sounds then press the button to check if they were right or not. Repeat, repeat, repeat until the sounds were mastered. (Note: we only spent 5-10 minutes on this exercise daily. I tried to keep it fun and light and not worry about how long it might take to memorize them. (What I love about AAS is that you just go at your own pace; there's no pressure.) So...maybe if you use the app, you can hand a little more of the freedom over to the child and make it more of a game they can self-check? Good luck; it will come eventually!

[luuknam]

I have the app, I haven't used it with my kid yet. This was the first day of AAS, and I'm sure he'll learn the phonograms soon enough, and yes, I plan on using the app too - I just was surprised that repeating 4 sounds back was such a struggle for him at this age. He could repeat back the 4 sounds of 'y'. I don't think he was going too fast causing slurring.

 

The good news is that the only cards he didn't get right on first try were C, A, E, I, O, U, and Y, and I'm sure we'll be able to move C and E to the mastered stack tomorrow - I think he simply missed those today because he just didn't quite get he was supposed to say more than one sound (even though I said "sound or sounds"). He did get them when I said "and...", but that doesn't count as mastered yet. So, pretty much as I expected - I figured the vowels would need some practice, and the consonants wouldn't. Maybe he'll do better tomorrow anyway.

[Kiara.I]

For the multi-sound ones I hold up the number of fingers for the number of sounds they need.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[MerryAtHope]

I agree that I'd just keep working on it in bits until he's able to remember more at a time with that one. Is he reading already? 

 

You mentioned that he may have Auditory Processing issues--I think you'll find the tips in this article helpful. I'd have him watch your mouth as you make the sounds.

[luuknam]

Is he reading already?

 

Yes, above grade level. We just got the results back from the 3rd grade CAT he took a few weeks ago, and he scored 80th percentile on the reading (comprehension) subtest, or 95th percentile on "total reading", which combines the reading subtest with some other subtest(s), I'm guessing the vocabulary subtest. And on the San Diego Quick Assessment I gave him in December he scored 6th grade for reading level (which only tests the ability to read the words out loud, not comprehension).

 

I started reading the link you gave, I'll finish it when I've got more time.

[luuknam]

And today he got the 4 sounds of 'o' flawless during the review. I still made him listen and repeat the phonogram app a few times after that (and will repeat tomorrow), but... :)

[MerryAtHope]

And today he got the 4 sounds of 'o' flawless during the review. I still made him listen and repeat the phonogram app a few times after that (and will repeat tomorrow), but... :)

 

AWESOME!

 

Maybe it was just the newness yesterday! Or a brain glitch (I often found that something would be difficult one day and then easy the next for my kids. I suppose I have days like that myself...)

 

Sounds like he's a great reader :).

Edited May 27, 2016 by MerryAtHope